Darna translates to "our home," the name of this family-run Middle Eastern restaurant that actually twins an original location just outside Jerusalem. 

The logo which adorns the menu represents the shape of the door at the original restaurant, symbolically welcoming diners.

An open kitchen here contributes to a homey feel in the warm yet elegant space.

It's equipped with a Malagutti pizza oven used to make taboon, a Levantine flatbread made using whole wheat and regular flour baked over hot stones that's central to the sharing-style menu.

Baba ghanouj ($13) is a towering mezze of fried and charred eggplant stuffed with bell pepper, coriander, green onion, walnut and brightening parsley, finished off with a pomegranate molasses.

Dip in with flatbread or eat with a knife and fork.

Go for a fukhara braised stew dish cooked in a clay pot in the pizza oven and presented tableside to visually impress and feed a crowd, served with your choice of bulgur or rice.

A vegan option reasonably priced at $16 is a medley of tenderly cooked chunks of potato, carrot, onion, eggplant, zucchini, mushroom and cauliflower with a vegetarian za'atar gravy that I can see any herbivore tucking into happily. The wide variety of veggies and bold flavours are far from boring.

Sawani dishes are essentially the same, prepared in vessels in the oven, but made into casseroles.

The fattet batenjan ($16) is vegetarian, a hot base of tomato sauce and eggplant topped with a cold layer of tahini-yogurt sauce, fresh mint, pomegranate seeds, slivered almonds and crispy fried pita for a dish that contrasts not only temperatures but flavours.

I highly recommend the siadiyeh ($27), a starring signature dish. All the elements of crispy-skinned pan seared Mediterranean sea bass, crispy onions, a rustic homemade tomato sauce, and rice with nuts, raisins and caramelized onions harmonize perfectly.

Kunafah ($9) is a traditional sticky dessert that utilizes the oven, served warm. Stretchy house unripened cheese is topped with crispy kataifi dough, pistachios and rosewater syrup.

A list of $11 cocktails with Middle Eastern influences includes a creative and tasty Market Sour, made using turmeric-infused Canadian rye, cucumber water, sugar and aquafaba for a cocktail that's somehow refreshing, frothy and potent all at the same time.

A Za'atar Paloma adds za'atar simple syrup to the classic boozy combination of tequila, grapefruit juice and lime.

A G&P is simple but refreshing, made using gin, pomegranate juice, grapefruit zest, lemon and soda.

The Apricot Lady combines amber rum, orange liqueur, apricot nectar, cardamom, vanilla syrup and heavy cream for an almost eggnog-like creation.

Darna also serves a range of shakshukas and mashawi selections from the grill.